1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a substrate processing apparatus that subjects substrates to various types of processing.
2. Description of the Background Art
Substrate processing apparatuses are used to subject various types of substrates such as semiconductor substrates, substrates for liquid crystal displays, plasma displays, optical disks, magnetic disks, magneto-optical disks, and photomasks, and other substrates to various types of processing.
For example, a substrate processing apparatus described in JP 2003-324139 A includes a plurality of processing blocks. Each processing block is provided with a plurality of thermal processing sections, a plurality of chemical solution processing sections and a transport mechanism. In each processing block, substrates are transported to the thermal processing sections and the chemical solution processing sections by the transport mechanism. Then, the substrates are subjected to predetermined processing in the thermal processing sections and the chemical solution processing sections.
More improved throughput of each processing block is required for improving throughput of the substrate processing apparatus. Examples of the method of improving the throughput of each processing block include reducing a time period required for transporting the substrates by the transport mechanism.
However, it is difficult to further speed up transportation of the substrates, because the transport speed of the substrates by the transport mechanism has been set sufficiently high.